a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Preseason Game 4 of 7 vs. PHX

I actually don’t have much to say beyond that. It was just great to be able to finally see the Jazz.

From tipoff, it was clear that Deron was trying to get Al involved on offense. Al and Hayward, who also got the start tonight, got off to slow starts but they eventually settled in.

The arena has new rims, or something. The rims made every missed shot sound like a way-off brick.

Matty was on the call with Boler. I don’t think retirement agrees with his hairline. They showed a hilarious clip of Matty pre-game getting his ankles taped, leading me to wonder whether he was also wearing a jock strap. I emailed the Toyota Tough Tundra thingy, but alas, they did not see fit to respond.

Halftime coach’s interview was with Scotty Layden, who’s shaved his head. Hope there are no health issues going on with him.

The starters came out in the third quarter very bleh. 4 out of the 5 are not fighting for their roster lives (i.e. they all have guaranteed contracts), and I thought that showed.

When Jerry subs in the second unit, Gordon Hayward (and the other starters) head to the bench. He’s a little disheveled, and all I can think of is Molly Ringwald in “Sixteen Candles”:

Fes was pretty solid off the bench, but he sprained his wrist towards the end of the game.

May the laughs never stop.

All in all, once the subs came in, it was a convincing win and Big Al is looking more and more comfortable with every game. Between defensive improvement and getting all the new guys acclimated to the system and with each other, there’s still a lot of work to be done. That’s no damper, however.

4-0 now, which, as Jerry said in response to being asked what 3-0 means, means “nothing.” I agree, but it’s still nice, and the first time since 1976.